Nine Korean words I wish existed in English

I’m in constant danger of using these words in the middle of an English conversation.

1. 역시: The best English equivalents I can come up with for this word are “naturally,” “obviously,” “as expected,” and “of course” but I still find that situations where that sounds odd in English. 역시 is such a pithy answer to a variety of different scenarios; I do wish there was a single, direct English equivalent. For example, suppose your friend says something like, “콘서트 최고였어! 지드래곤은 진짜 멋있더라!” To which you could very simply reply, “역시” to mean “naturally” or “of course.” But say 지드래곤 was at an interview and said, “이번 생일부터 저의 선물로 돈을 기부하겠습니다.” If you were the interviewer, you could say, “와~~ 역시 지드래곤 씨네요!” which uses 역시 to mean more like, “that’s what I would’ve expected from you.”

2. 글쎄: Such a delightfully noncommittal word. It can mean “I guess,” “I dunno,” “maybe,” “not sure” or simply “hmmm.” Just leave it to the listener to figure out what you really mean.

3. 헐: Oh yes, the word that perfectly sums up my entire existence! I equate this sound with “OMG WHAT” or “HUH??” or “that’s crazy” – though my Korean friend tells me it can also be used when you mean 대~~~박.

4. 길치: 길 means “way, street” and 치 is “person” – 길치 is a person with no sense of direction. If only there was a word this succinct in English that describes my condition. On a similar note, 음치, which is 음악 + 치, means a “tone-deaf person.”

5. skinship: Technically not Korean, doesn’t keep it from being awesome. I use PDA as a poor substitute, but skinship is so much better.

6. 맞선: The only reason I wish this word existed in English is so I’d be able to better explain the process of Indian arranged marriages to my American friends. In Marathi, there’s a phrase we use that translates to “going to see the boy/girl” which basically means the same thing as 맞선. In fact, the phrase “선 보다” translates beautifully into Marathi but sounds really clunky in English – essentially translating to “meeting each other with the intention of getting married.” I usually explain this to my friends as “a very serious blind date arranged by one’s parents” which doesn’t have quite the same meaning or ring to it.

7. 멍: Gosh, I love this word! It’s basically the speechless, zoned-out, eye-glazed-over, “ehhhh” type of expression that you’d find on the face of every student forced to sit through a difficult lecture. It’s ridiculously fun to say too.

8. 짝사랑: You could use “crush” but the point is that it’s unrequited and not all crushes are. “Unrequited love” is a mouthful to say and it doesn’t look quite as romantic when you’re trying to translate song lyrics. What’s even harder to translated is when it’s used as a verb. How does one properly translate 짝사랑 하다? “To have an unrequited love?” “To love someone one-sidedly?” Neither one really rolls off the tongue.

9. 뒷모습: This word makes me groan when I’m translating songs. 뒤 is “back, rear” and 모습 is “figure, image” and together, this word means “appearance from behind.” Sure, you could translate this as “back” or “behind” but it often sounds flat in the context of a song. If I’m feeling poetic, I usually translate 네 뒷모습 as “your retreating figure” but even that sound a bit… blargh.

Of course, these are excluding all those lovely ideophonic wordsand kinship termswhich present such troubles for poor amateur translators like me! What are some Korean words you wished existed in English?

Yeah, 설레다 is a good one! And you’re right, 멋지다 can have a lot of different meanings and it’s sometimes used in situations where “cool” or “fashionable” isn’t really appropriate. I need to make a part 2 for this post haha.